


Would You Rather?

by httpcrytid



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Other, anyway, diego is a protective boy, klaus gets nightmares after his ‘training’ and diego helps, tell me it’s not canon i dare you, they’re the closest of all the siblings, this is a brotherly thing if a single one of u makes it romantic i’ll fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 06:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17955509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpcrytid/pseuds/httpcrytid
Summary: After Klaus’ training with Reginald Hargreeves, things were never really the same again.





	Would You Rather?

The ticking of a clock, the clatter of shutters in the wind, the noise of late night traffic. All usual sounds of city evenings. However one sound that was unusual to most, and unheard by the majority of the house, was the muffled whimpers and occasional sobbed shouts for help coming from the room neighbouring Diego’s. 

These sounds had started a few weeks ago, and had been a consistent nightly routine ever since. The explanation was clear, and if anybody else had noticed- they certainly weren’t going to talk about it. Klaus had disappeared for a few days, taken somewhere by their father as part of their training- and when he came back he wasn’t the same. His happiness suddenly felt like an act, like he was wearing a mask whenever he smiled. He looked broken, like the light had gone out behind his eyes, and Diego had been given his first taste of hatred for the man he called ‘dad’.

For the first few nights, Diego heard their mother, Grace, go into Klaus’ room to comfort him, then a few days later- that stopped. Suddenly too, like somebody had forced her to stop checking on him. Of course Diego couldn’t have known at the time, but this was the work of their father too. Diego did however, register that things were not improving for his brother, and it was time he stepped in to do something about it. 

Late on a Tuesday night, or perhaps an early Wednesday morning, because by this point both brothers knew little of what time it really was- Diego grabbed his pillow, and being careful to stick to the walls and furniture so as not to make a sound on the more settled floorboards (a skill he had learned when sneaking out at night), he tiptoed the short walk to his brother’s bedroom. The door, when he got there, was already open, and propped in such a position by an old cassette tape shoved painfully under the frame. 

Klaus had his lamp on, and in the soft glow it gave off, Diego could see his brother sat upright- jolted awake by his own nightmare and evidently terrified by the shadow in his doorway, from the broken voice Diego could make out as saying, “You’re not real. This isn’t real. Go away. Go away. Please. Go away.” 

Startled by how desperate his usually pretty sarcastic brother sounded, Diego took another step into the room so that his own face would be more illuminated, before replying to Klaus, “Hey, hey it’s me. You’re awake now, it’s me.”

“Diego?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Seeing Klaus sink back against his wall in relief, Diego made the rest of the trip, placing his pillow on the foot of his brother’s bed, “Thought you could use some company.”

Klaus nodded, squinting for a moment and looking like he may make some sort of quip or comment about Diego’s decision, but instead he just smiled, “Get comfy... wanna play would you rather?”

“I have no clue why you like that game so much dude,” Diego gave a soft laugh, “But yeah, you go first.”

Klaus seemed to cheer up instantly, shuffling to sit with his legs crossed and petting at his chin (imaginary goatee) as he thought, “Hmm, would you rather.... your hands be made out of chocolate, or have everything you touch turn to candy?”

The game continued for a while, the same questions any young boys would think of being the main focus of their thoughts. Which at last must have eased Klaus enough, because soon he was asleep again, and Diego was soon to join him. 

It was Grace who found them in the morning, and Grace who made sure Reginald never found them the weeks of mornings after.

The routine eventually faded as Klaus found... his own ways of helping himself forget his fears. They both grew up, Diego was out more often. Klaus himself grew a tendency of sneaking out late at night. The boys were still close, but from a distance. With the shared knowledge that Diego would always be there if Klaus ever needed him again.

And that knowledge would be applied sooner than either of them could have expected. 

It had been three day’s since Ben’s funeral. Nobody had felt like leaving the house those nights. In fact it was like they were back to their younger selves curfew’s, with the only difference being the somber absence of their sibling hanging heavy in the air.

And that’s when the nightmares came back.

They weren’t bad at first, just snapshots of that room. The faces. Enough to wake Klaus up in a cold sweat, but not enough to scare him into not being able to sleep again. 

Then Ben started appearing. Klaus wanted to be fine with it, he really did. For god’s sake it was his brother, but anytime he saw his face he could only think about the accident. He could only see his childhood fear of the dead. How they were always surrounding him. His once slight nighttime panics where morphing into panic attacks, and his inability to calm himself was only pushing him into a deeper hole of anxiety and fear. 

He lasted as long as he could alone, but he had to break before he could heal. And when that time arrived, when he was woken up by his own sobs at 4:28am, he swung his legs over his bed, ripped his pillow from it’s place, and with no regard for the noise he was making padded quickly into his brother’s room.

Diego had been half woken by the noise, and woken up the rest of the way by Klaus shaking his shoulder. 

“Klaus, dude, it’s the middle of the night.” Diego rolled over, flicked on his lamp, and immediately felt his eyes widen, “You’re crying.”

“Am I?” Klaus let out a feeble laugh, he was shaking, and he knew his jokes were completely unconvincing, “Huh, didn’t even notice. Anyway... I uh....”

Diego watched as Klaus nodded his head to the foot of his bed, and even despite how long it had been, he knew immediately what his brother needed.

“Get comfy.” He recalled, “Wanna play would you rather?”

Klaus already gained a soft smile, remembering that those were the exact word’s he’d said to Diego the first time this happened all those years ago. “Yeah, you go first.” 

Diego nodded, smiling himself, “Alright, would you rather your hands be made out of chocolate, or have everything you touch turn to candy?”


End file.
